Chapters Nineteen and Twenty were posted yesterday. Hope you didn't miss either of them!

All rights belong to J.K. Rowling. The plotline of Wrong Life is by camnz.

Chapter Twenty-One: So Many Questions

Sun filtered through the fir trees into the master bedroom suite. Hermione stretched luxuriously and opened her eyes. Draco was asleep, so she stroked his silvery blond hair until his eyes blinked open.

"The baby didn't wake up," she marveled. "Did Gemmie sleep through the night?"

"No," Draco grinned, "she was up once. I fed her and put her back to bed myself."

"Wow. Okay, I'm convinced now. Bottle-feeding and schedules win. Thank you."

"You ready to talk?"

"Yes. I do want to know everything you know before Harry comes over."

"Right. Do you want to get dressed and talk over breakfast?"

"No, let's stay in bed. We can whisper like we are telling secrets."

Draco smiled faintly. "Well, after I brought you home from the Parkinsons, you fell fast asleep. I didn't know you had been drugged, thought you were just incredibly tired."

"Understandable. I was."

"So, I went back to the party to speak to the Minister of Magic. I wanted to see if I could prevent the Ministry's illegal intrusion upon Malfoy Enterprises without letting on that I knew of their plan."

"You wanted to use your charm, I know," Hermione nodded. "Did it work?"

"No, because soon into the conversation with the Prime Minister, I grew sleepy," he hesitated.

"And?"

"And apparently, I was knocked out too. I woke up in St. Mungo's." He sighed, "Hermione, while I was unconscious, a photograph was taken of me in a compromising situation with Suzette. It was published in the Witch Weekly."

Hermione caught her breath and stiffened. She kept her eyes on Draco. He passed his hand over his eyes and his lips trembled.

"I am so sorry, Hermione. You were one hundred percent right about Suzette. I should have listened to you. I planned to fire her immediately, but she has since disappeared. The investigators can't even find her."

Hermione took his hand and rolled closer to him to kiss his lips.

"Draco, you were right too. You were right about it being dangerous to reveal my identity in the magazine. I'm sorry too. Gloria purposefully revealed my game plan as revenge on our "treatment" of Pansy. She's a cousin of sorts. She wanted to humiliate us, me especially, but she didn't realize it would have such dire effects."

"Did you fire her?"

"No, not yet, I'm still thinking about it. She wants another chance."

"No way. She put your life in danger. In my book, she is a suspect for attempted murder."

"Murder!"

"Hermione love, you almost died."

"Ha! It seemed like a much needed nap to me."

"A nap where you didn't wake up. A nap that scared us all to death. It was definitely an attempt at murder."

"Well, Gloria had nothing to do with the sleeping potion, I am sure. She wasn't even at the Parkinson party."

Suzette was, though.

Hermione pursed her lips and thought carefully. She was back to normal after so much sleep. Her mind was racing and tackling the matter from this angle and that. She smiled at Draco. He was a suspect too, she knew, from reading Harry's face. Did Draco know? If not, she wasn't going to tell him. She did not want to break this precious bond they had right now. She wanted to protect it and nourish it so it grew back to what they had before...things started going wrong.

"This is going to work out, Draco. We will figure it all out."

"The next thing to decide is where you should go that is safe."

"Isn't the Manor safe? We have all the wards. No one can get in. The children should be fine, right?" Hermione frowned.

"Well, it depends on who is after you," Draco began. "What if the person behind all this is ...my father? He's the one who talked me into hiring Suzette in the first place. He has also been curiously absent since you've been in the hospital. He's had lots of visitors and never once helped with the children when we needed it. And he isn't talking to me."

"I don't think it could be Lucius. He loves Astoria." Hermione paused, "Unless... do you think he has figured out that I am Hermione Granger? Then would he try to ... get rid of me?"

"I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me, because his instinct is usually to protect the family. But I could be wrong. That's why I was thinking that maybe you and the children should live in your parents' house for awhile."

"We had talked about it before and even packed for it, but..." Hermione hesitated, "wouldn't you come too?"

"Would you want me there?" His eyes met hers uncertainly.

"Yes, Draco. I would."

"You believe my story about being drugged? I don't think Potter does."

"Yes, Draco, of course I do."

Immediately, she was pushed back onto the bed as Draco began feverishly kissing his wife's hair, neck, breast, stomach. She laughed and kissed him back.

By the time Harry had arrived, the Malfoy family was dressed, fed, and busy with lessons. Hermione was leading her little class again instead of stumbling through the motions.

She paused to compare her state of mind now with her state of mind before the sleeping potion. Really, she had been in a very unstable place. She had been depressed and had faltered. Who knew a new baby and lack of sleep could decimate a person like that? How had she even accomplished the bare minimum of her day? Apparently, she hadn't done too well. The children were overjoyed to have her back to normal. Scorpius was thrilled to have Draco in the classroom too. All the children showed their father their lessons proudly, and he pretended to be impressed. She knew he was pretending, and it made her smile.

Draco sat with Gemmie and listened to Orion read, while Hermione helped Leo form his letters and practice his sounds. He's behind his brothers and sister who were reading by age four, she worried. Scorpius and Cassie worked speedily through their lesson parchments. I need to remind them that this isn't a competition.

Harry entered the scene and watched the family in action. He smiled. This would be Hermione's family. Already flourishing in the world of academia. He was surprised the baby wasn't having lessons too. Hermione looked up to see Harry and smiled.

"You ready for us?" she asked. He nodded, so she and Draco rose. She called Penny in to watch the children as they finished their tasks; she gave them directions for their next activity. Then they stepped downstairs to Draco's study. Hermione took the baby from Draco so he could soundproof the room with his wand.

Before Harry could begin, Hermione took over.

"Harry, I don't believe that Draco and I had the same sleeping potion. I actually made it home and to bed before falling asleep, but then didn't wake up for three days. Draco fell asleep instantly, but woke up after twelve hours. I had no dreams. Draco, did you dream?"

"Yes, actually, rather violent dreams. You could be right."

Harry broke in, "We haven't discovered any glasses from the party with potion or poison residue. By the time you were both sent to St. Mungo's, the glasses had been cleaned."

The Malfoys nodded.

"Any news on Suzette Jones?" Draco asked.

Harry shook his head. "Not only are we unable to find her; we are unable to prove that she ever existed."

Hermione raised her brows and glanced at Draco. That was very intriguing news indeed.

"I assume you've seen this, Hermione," Harry tossed her the Witch Weekly article with Draco and Suzette on the cover. Hermione caught her breath and flinched at the sight. It was her worst nightmare. An unclothed Suzette, well, perhaps you could call those clothes, holding Draco in her arms. Not much could be seen of Draco except for his silvery blond hair. Still, this was horrible press. And it felt like a knife in the gut.

"No. Draco told me...part of it. Yes, it certainly is a compromising situation, Draco. Have the children seen this? I seriously hope not." When Hermione skimmed the article, her lips tightened and tears came to her eyes. "Boy, they are vicious. Who wrote this? Was it Rita Skeeter?"

"No, Rita Skeeter wrote the next article." Harry tossed her a copy of the Daily Prophet. The photo on the cover showed Astoria and Draco asleep in hospital beds. The caption read Malfoys Poisoned! Hermione shuddered at the thought of someone taking her photo while she was sleeping, but when she looked closely, she saw that Astoria actually looked quite lovely, like Sleeping Beauty. And there was her handsome blond prince in the next bed over.

"Who took this picture? How did the photographer get into St. Mungo's? Is my hair styled?"

"I don't know about the hair, but the photographer was Jane Creevey. My mother called her. She also called Rita Skeeter to write the article," Draco replied. "Damage control."

"I'll say," agreed Hermione slowly as she perused the article. "This is brilliant. Jane's photography is amazing, as usual. The writing sounds sympathetic toward the Malfoys. It even mentions that the Ministry has frozen our assets. So, they actually did that?"

"Yes, while you were sleeping."

"It says that The Malfoys have been punished not for breaking a law, but for publishing ideas opposed by the Ministry. That can't be legal," noted Hermione.

"No, I think you have a really strong case, but it will probably mean more media exposure," agreed Harry with a sidelong glance at Draco's grimace.

"I can't believe Rita Skeeter would ever write a favorable article about me," marveled Hermione.

"She didn't," Draco interjected. "She wrote it about Astoria Malfoy. Rita Skeeter is a friend of my mother's and has always liked Astoria."

Hermione nodded and grinned wryly, "Of course. Rita Skeeter would never champion Hermione Granger's cause. Still, I must give both Rita and Narcissa my thanks. This was the best possible response to Witch Weekly's slanderous fabrication." She spit the last words out with a vengeance that surprised Harry.

Harry cleared his throat. "Hermione, we haven't caught the culprit."

"I know that, Harry."

"So, your life is still in danger. Whoever wanted to cause you harm is still out there roaming the streets. We need to keep you safe. We suspect that this is retribution for your support of Muggles in your magazine."

"I disagree," began Hermione thoughtfully. "Here's why: As a Muggleborn, I remember feeling the hatred and the prejudice towards me. I remember fearing for my life many times. Not just around Death Eaters, but other times too. I had to be constantly aware of other people and my surroundings. That was my life as Hermione Granger."

"Quite, but now you have become an advocate for the Muggleborn and therefore, you have enemies once more," stated Draco tersely.

"It's different," Hermione informed him, "When I was at the Nott party and the Parkinson party, I was slighted, despised perhaps, shunned, but not hated. People were upset and angry, but they weren't out to murder me."

"Yet someone tried to do just that." Harry interjected.

"I believe I know who the culprit is," Hermione announced.

"Who? Suzette? Gloria?" Draco looked puzzled. He was afraid to say, My father?

"I'm not sure about Suzette or Gloria yet. They may have just been pawns. No, I think the person behind all these ... recent disasters is ...Pansy Parkinson."

"Are you serious?"

"I am. This is how she operates. She goes after Astoria, but would never harm Draco. She plans these elaborate attempts at murder that don't work. She's also lousy at potions. I mean, have you ever heard of anyone using Dreamless Sleeping Potion as a murder weapon? And both Gloria and Suzette, by the way, apparently have ties to the Parkinson family. She could have influenced them to act for her."

"Pansy Parkinson! But she's in the sanatorium in Switzerland."

"Is she? Has anyone checked?"

"No. I'll get on it right now." Harry turned to leave, but stopped. "Are you safe here at Malfoy Manor, Hermione?"

"What do you think, Draco?"

"Malfoy Manor has impenetrable wards, but Pansy may be able to find a way in, because of her father's ties to my father. We were thinking of moving to the Granger's house, Potter."

"Hermione's Muggle home?" Harry was surprised.

"Yes, Draco can set up the wards while I set up the internet." Hermione said with a smile. Draco frowned. Harry looked impressed.

"I'll check into Pansy Parkinson's whereabouts, as soon as I interview both Lucius Malfoy and Pansy's father. It seems suspicious that Mr. Parkinson had no idea you were in his home after the party, Draco. And it sounds like I should have a conversation with Gloria Van Duzen as well."

Draco and Hermione looked at each other. They too were curious about Lucius, but hesitated to voice their concerns.

"Thank you, Harry, for everything," Hermione

"Hermione, I am really glad to have you back," Harry stepped over to give her a hug.

Hermione smiled at Harry, but caught Draco's eye as she responded, "Me too."

Later in the day, Harry's stag Patronus came to the Malfoys with the message, No Pansy Parkinson. No record of her stay at all. Staff memories obliviated.

Hermione leaned into Draco's arms for support.